Many companies utilize payroll systems and payroll automation to produce paychecks, which are paper documents issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. Such payroll systems perform functions such as calculating and paying wages and determining tax withholdings. Recently, physical paychecks have been increasingly replaced by electronic payments, such as direct deposits to bank accounts.
Paychecks and electronic payments are typically sent out on a regular payroll pay period, for example, weekly, bi-weekly (i.e., every two weeks), bi-monthly (i.e., twice a month), or monthly. At many companies, all employees have the same payroll pay period, which is set by management, and receive paychecks and/or electronic payments on the same day. At some companies, employees in different payroll categorizations are paid in different payroll pay periods. For example, the payroll pay period for hourly employees may be weekly while the payroll pay period for salaried employees may be bi-monthly.
In some cases, an employee may receive a payroll payment bi-monthly. However, the employee may have to pay rent weekly, meaning that the employee must manage the money from each payroll payment to make two, and occasionally even three, rent payments. If the employee is not successful at managing money, the employee may run out of money and may not be able to make a rent payment. Consequently, the employee may need to resort to a payday loan, resulting in the employee incurring the very expensive fees and interest rates that come with such a loan.
The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be expanded or reduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present invention. Moreover, while the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The phrases “in some embodiments,” “according to various embodiments,” “in the embodiments shown,” “in one embodiment,” “in other embodiments,” and the like generally mean the particular feature, structure, or characteristic following the phrase is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention, and may be included in more than one embodiment of the present invention. In addition, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments or to different embodiments.